Shimon, The King of Soups

Deep in the trenches of Tel Aviv’s Yemenite Quarter, which hugs the city’s Carmel Market, is a barebones dive serving some of the best Yemenite food in the country. Manning Shimon, The King of Soups is Yonit Saada, the late Shimon’s daughter, who is hard to pin down for more than a moment’s conversation. “What draws people is my energy, my personality,” she says, stirring a pot of Yemenite chicken soup. “I have a basic recipe but I cook with my eyes. I can tell by the color of the soup that it’s done.” Popular dishes here include the calf foot’s soup, the oxtail soup, the rice and beans and the spicy meatballs. Every main dish comes with a side of foamy, somewhat glutinous hilbeh, a fenugreek hallmark of Yemenite cuisine that is fabled to be a panacea of sorts, fiery green schug, a popular chili condiment, lahoh, the Yemenite pancake-like bread, and saluf, traditional Yemenite flatbread.